It's Not Just Cosmetic: PRP Therapy Can Treat Your Sports Injuries, Too

Few things are as frustrating as an injury that keeps you on the sidelines and prevents you from your active lifestyle. It can be even more so when the pain and discomfort lingers longer than it should, even after giving yourself the appropriate time to heal.

If you’ve had an extended rest, tried strength training, and stretched every day but are still feeling discomfort from your injury, you may want to consider PRP therapy to get you back to your previous level. Despite being used in facials, for addressing male pattern baldness, and for other cosmetic procedures, PRP therapy has proved to be successful in promoting natural healing from injuries.

After all, if PRP can help elite athletes like Tiger Woods, Stephen Curry, and Garrett Richards recover from their injuries, it can work for you, too.

What is PRP therapy?

Platelets are natural components in your blood that function as agents for blood clotting and tissue repair. They secrete growth factors that increase collagen production, which aids in:

• Repairing injured tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and muscles
• Making cartilage firmer and more resilient

PRP — or platelet-rich plasma — therapy is a non-invasive injection treatment that aims to heal and regenerate tissue. It can help with:

• Chronic pain
• Joint pain
• Arthritis
• Spinal pain
• Low back pain
• Damaged or torn ligaments and tendons
• Chronic muscle pain
• Shoulder injuries
• Wrist pain
• Knee pain
• Degenerative joint disease
• Postsurgical repair

One of the biggest advantages of PRP therapy is that it uses your own platelets to promote your healing, so it’s natural and safe.

What can I expect from a PRP therapy session?

A PRP therapy session usually requires a 30-minute office visit. After your blood draw, it’s run through a centrifuge to separate the platelets. Once the platelets have been isolated, they’re injected at the site of your injury. You can return to your normal activities after you leave the office, although you may feel temporary soreness at the injection site.

PRP therapy isn’t a quick fix. Unlike getting a cortisol injection to relieve pain, it usually takes a few weeks or months depending on the severity of your injury before you notice results.

Interested in PRP therapy to treat sports injuries?

PRP therapy is one of the regenerative medicine services we offer at PRP in Philadelphia. If you want to learn if this option fits your sports injury, contact our office in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. Dr. Stuart A. Kauffman is an experienced board-certified family physician and osteopathic medicine specialist who brings more than 20 years of sports medicine experience to his Philadelphia patients.

If you have nagging discomfort or pain from a sports injury, request an appointment online or by calling 610-589-0528.